


Red

by SugdenLovesDingle



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: A+ Parenting, Family Feels, M/M, teenage seb
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,864
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27577745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SugdenLovesDingle/pseuds/SugdenLovesDingle
Summary: Teenage Seb wants to dye his hair
Relationships: Aaron Dingle/Robert Sugden
Comments: 8
Kudos: 52





	Red

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a (rather rude) tumblr ask I got from someone saying Seb having red hair means he'll be ugly as an adult. Which is of course bullshit, but it made me think of teenage Seb wanting to dye his hair because he hates his red hair.

"Girls, tea's ready!" Aaron shouted up the stairs and made his way over to the table where Robert was serving up their food.

"Seb, off." Robert said pointing a spoon at his son's head.

"But dad..." Seb whined.

"Don't but dad me. Off. Now."

"But whyyyy?"

"because we said so." Aaron plucked the beanie off his head in passing and dropped it on the table next to his elbow. "Not at the table, you know that. We'd like to actually see your face sometime."

"You can see my face just fine when I wear it." Seb protested.

"His face is stupid anyway." his little sister Ruby said as she and Eve joined the rest of the family at the table, and the two girls giggled when Seb glared at them.

"Alright, enough of that. Can we just enjoy one family meal without you two winding each other up? Please?" Robert asked as he sat down. There was a mumbled sort of agreement coming from both kids that he took as a yes. "Thank you."

The argument was a regular occurrence in their house. Ever since Seb had been old enough to dress himself he'd started wearing hoodies and caps or beanies. They mostly just let him, especially since Aaron himself still wore hoodies too, and even with the hood up if he was cold or tired, but Robert had insisted on both of them taking them off at the dinner table ever since Seb was about 8 and he and Aaron were both hidden away under their hoodies.

He'd just turned 13 now and almost every day, either Robert or Aaron had to all but surgically remove the hat from his head when they sat down for tea.

The second Seb finished eating he grabbed his beanie and went upstairs to his room.

“All this drama over a damn beanie.” Robert sighed.

“It’s so you won’t see his hair.” Ruby told her parents.

“What’s wrong with his hair?”

“It’s red.”

“So?”

“He doesn’t like it.”

“And Danielle Philips doesn’t either.” Eve added.

“Who?”

“This girl from school that he likes.”

Aaron looked back and forth between his daughter and his little sister.

“How do you two even know that?”

Later that night, after the kids had gone to bed and Robert and Aaron were lying on the sofa watching TV together, Aaron couldn’t switch off his brain and kept thinking about what the girls had told them during tea.

“Do you think we should talk to him?”

“Hmm? Who?”

“Seb. If it’s true what the girls are saying... I don’t want him to feel bad because some girl doesn’t like him back because of his hair.”

“But we don’t know if that’s the reason. He’s been wearing caps and things for years.”

“Well... who knows how long he’s liked this girl. Maybe he was trying to impress her?”

“By wearing a hat?”

Aaron shrugged.

“People do crazy things when they’re in love.”

“Yeah like stealing cars and breaking and entering.” Robert teased.

“Or faking a breakdown.” Aaron shot back but then softened. “Or planning some mad wedding in less than a day.”

“Or writing this ridiculously romantic speech and starting with you’re smug and arrogant.”

“And yet you still married me. Three times.” Aaron held up 3 fingers.

“Sometimes I wonder why.” Robert leaned in and kissed him deeply. “Oh right, that’s why.” he turned off the TV and grabbed Aaron’s hand. “Let’s put those three fingers to better use upstairs.”

A few days later, when they’d both decided to work from home for the day because the space heater at the yard had finally given up, Seb came home earlier than usual, carrying a plastic bag and looking shifty.

“What are you doing home so early?” Aaron asked, looking up from the accounts he was working on.

Seb jumped.

“Oh... uh... science got cancelled. Teacher is sick.”

Aaron and Robert shared a look.

“Right.”

“It’s the truth! Seb insisted.

“So you won’t mind me calling Moira to ask if Isaac got home early too then?” Robert asked.

Seb shrugged.

“Go ahead. It’s the truth.”

“Never mind.” Robert shook his head. “I believe you. What’s in the bag?”

“Nothing! Just uh... my PE kit.”

“Your PE kit? Since when do you carry that around in a plastic bag from Boots?”

“I lost my other bag.”

“Did you now?” Aaron asked as he got up and walked over to the coat rack. “This bag?” He held up the bag with Seb’s PE kit.

“Oh! There it is!”

“You’re a terrible liar, kiddo.” 

“Sebastian,” Robert started and Seb winced. He knew he was in trouble whenever his parents used his full name. “What’s in the bag?”

“Nothing. Just... stuff. Personal stuff!”

“Personal stuff?”

“Yes! Very personal. Condoms!” Seb said, hoping that would make his parents back off.

“Condoms?” Aaron asked. “Did you buy a life supply? That bag seems kind of full.”

“I uh... bought a few different kinds. I wasn’t sure which ones would be best.”

“I didn’t know you were going out with anyone.”

“It’s uh... not been long...”

“And you’re ready to take the next step already? It must be serious then.”

“Yeah, yeah... when you know, you know.” Seb said, repeating the phrase he’d heard his father say often over the years.

“Well we’re proud of you for being responsible.” Robert told him.

Seb nodded.

“Sure. I’m just going to go to my room now.” he turned around to run up the stairs, only to find his path blocked by his other father.

“What’s in the bag that’s so bad you’d rather talk about sex with your parents than tell us?” Aaron asked and held out his hand.

Seb reluctantly handed over the bag.

Aaron looked inside and frowned.

“Hair dye?” He took out one of the boxes and held it up. “There’s at least 5 different ones in there.”

Seb bit his lip and looked at his shoes.

“What’s going on? Why do you want to dye your hair?”

“Why do you think?!” Seb yanked the beanie off his head and pointed at his hair. “It’s red! I hate it! I’m sick of it! I want to be normal!”

“Who told you, you weren’t normal?” Robert asked, walking over to his son and husband.

Seb shrugged.

“Nobody. I just don’t like it. I want to be like everyone else.”

“Why? Are you being bullied?”

“Not really...” Seb mumbled. “I’m just sick of being the red one. Even Isaac calls me red!”

“Why don’t you tell him you don’t like it?”

“I have!”

“But he still does it?”

“Sometimes... he tries not to...” Seb sighed and sat down on the bottom step of the stairs. “I’m just sick of standing out... I want to be normal like you.” he said to Aaron.

Aaron glanced at the box in his hand and noticed the dye was roughly the same colour as his own hair. _Oh_.

“You want to be like me? Why?”

“Nobody teases you over the colour of your hair... And dad still fancies you.”

Robert sat down next to Seb and put an arm around his shoulders.

“Is that what this is about? Someone you fancy that doesn’t like your hair?”

“Kind of...” Seb admitted.

“And you think that will change if you dye it dark brown?”

“I don’t know...”

“I do.” Aaron said, squatting down in front of them and putting his hands on Seb’s knees. “If they don’t like you with red hair, they’re not going to like you with brown hair. And if they suddenly do, then they’re not worth your time.”

“Easy for you to say. You and dad have been married forever.”

“Yeah but it really wasn’t the colour of his hair that did it for me. I fell in love with him, all of him. And I would have still done that if he’d had red hair like you.”

“Yeah, me too.” Robert agreed. “Listen, if you want to dye your hair because _you_ want to, then let’s do it. We’ll help you.”

“Yeah?”

“Of course. We can touch up your dad’s grey roots while we’re at it.” Robert teased and Aaron slapped his knee. “But if you’re just doing this to get someone to like you... it’s not worth it.”

“When you find the right person, they’ll like you no matter what colour your hair is.” Aaron told Seb.

“You think so?”

“I know so.”

“Or maybe you’ll meet someone some day who first notices you because of your red hair, and that’s their favourite thing about you.”

“That’ll never happen.”

“You don’t know that. Look at Prince Harry.”

“Who?”

“Prince William’s brother. He married this really beautiful actress and his hair looked just like yours.”

“And there is Ron, Harry Potter’s best friend. He’s a famous wizard.” Robert added.

“He’s also not real.”

“But the actor is. I think he was even younger than you are now when he got the part for the first film. And his entire on screen family all had red hair too.”

“So? That doesn’t mean anything.”

“No, you’re right. The opinions of a few kids from your school holds so much more weight than millions of people around the world with hair like yours, living their lives, doing jobs they love, studying things they love, loving who they love... that all means nothing because someone at school says they don’t like your hair.”

“I didn’t say that...” Seb wiped his eyes. “I just don’t want them to call me names anymore... and there is this girl at school... I really like her... but she said she wouldn’t go out with a ginger minger. So I thought...if I changed that...she’d like me back.”

Robert pulled him close and kissed the top of his head.

“You know what I think? I think you’re really cute with your red hair. It’s one of the things I’ve always loved about you. Everyone kept telling us it’d probably turn blond like mine and your mum’s when you got older, but I always hoped it wouldn’t.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Seb didn’t say anything but just played with a loose thread on his jumper.

“Do you still want to dye your hair?” Aaron asked after a minute.

“Would you be mad?”

“Not as long as you do it because you want to.”

Seb nodded.

“I think... I think I need to think about it a little while longer...”

“That’s ok. This stuff will keep.” Aaron said, getting up and rubbing the cramp out of his thighs. “But remember, you can always come talk to us if something is bothering you. Or help you dye your hair.”

“Thanks dad.” Seb gave him a small smile. “Both of you.”

“That’s what we’re here for, mate.” Robert told him. “And just so you know, when you do buy condoms and start having sex, you can come talk to us too.”

“DAD!” Seb said horrified and slipped out of his father’s embrace and ran up the stairs to his room.

“That went well.” Aaron deadpanned when they heard Seb’s bedroom door slam shut.

Robert laughed and got up from the stairs.

“One step at a time.”


End file.
